100 years ago in Spokane: ‘Views so gorgeous you’ll steal for them’ could have been a new tourism slogan for the Spokane River

A Spokane boy, 16, was so enamored of the gorgeous views of the Spokane River that he ended up in the county juvenile detention hall.

“I go down there every day and look at the water by the hour,” he said. “Then I thought, if only I had field glasses on days when I didn’t feel good, I could sit in my window at home and watch the water. … [Then] I thought it would be fine to have a camera and take pictures of the water, too.”

So he walked into the Army-Navy store nearby and stole a pair of binoculars, a camera and photo supplies.

The proprietor finally nabbed him after he came back for more.

The boy led police to a cache of his stolen items, under the Howard Street bridge. The cache was on a ledge, with a 35-foot sheer drop down to the water. The boy climbed down and brought the plunder to the waiting officers.

Did police recover everything?

“We don’t know, and there isn’t a man on the police department with nerve enough to risk his neck to investigate the hidden spot further,” said a detective.

From the immigration beat: Ben Hill, mayor of Walla Walla, made some offensive statements in his speech to the Good Government League in Spokane.

“We don’t want the Japanese in Walla Walla; they are not good citizens but send their money to the old country,” Hill said. “The Chinese are honest and deal fair, but we found that 90 percent of the dope came from them last year.”

But then Hill said he believed that the Ku Klux Klan was “bigoted and stir up religious prejudice.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1787: Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up U.S. Constitution.